Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau
Regent of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe (1664–1679)
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The basics
Quick Facts
| Intro | Regent of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe (1664–1679) | ||||||||||
| A.K.A. | Emilie Albertine Agnes van Oranje-Nassau | ||||||||||
| A.K.A. | Emilie Albertine Agnes van Oranje-Nassau | ||||||||||
| was | Regent | ||||||||||
| Work field | Royals | ||||||||||
| Gender |
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| Birth | 9 April 1634, The Hague | ||||||||||
| Death | 26 May 1696Leeuwarden (aged 62 years) | ||||||||||
| Family |
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The details
Biography
Albertine Agnes (April 9, 1634 – May 26, 1696), was a regent of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. She was the sixth child and fifth daughter of stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels.
Family
Frederick Henry, Amalia and their youngest three daughters, Albertine Agnes is second on the right, holding hands with her younger sister Henriette Catherine
Albertine Agnes was born in The Hague and was the sixth of nine children born to her parents. Some of her siblings died in childhood. Albertine and four other siblings lived to adulthood. Her surviving siblings were: William II, Prince of Orange, Luise Henriette of Nassau, Henriette Catherine of Nassau and Mary of Nassau.
Albertine's paternal grandparents were William the Silent and his fourth wife Louise de Coligny. Her grandfather, William, was murdered on the orders of Philip II of Spain, who believed that William had betrayed the Spanish king and the Catholic religion.
Her maternal grandparents were Johan Albrecht I of Solms-Braunfels and his wife Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.
In 1652 she married her second-cousin, William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz. They had three children:
- Amalia of Nassau-Dietz, married to John William III, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach
- Henry Casimir II, Count of Nassau-Dietz, married to Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau
- Wilhelmina Sophia Hedwig (1664–1667)
Regency
After the death of her husband in 1664, she became regent for her son in Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. In 1665, both England and the bishopric of Münster declared war on the Netherlands. Because most of the money for defence had been used for the fleet, the army had been neglected. When Groningen was under siege, Albertine Agnes hastened to the city to give moral support. Pressure by King Louis XIV of France, then an ally, forced the forces of her enemies retreated, but six years later the Netherlands were attacked from the south, by the French under Louis XIV and from the north by the bishop of Münster and archbishop of Cologne. She organised defence and kept moral high.
In 1676 Albertine Agnes bought a country seat in Oranjewoud and called it Oranjewoud Palace. It was here that she died in 1696.
Ancestors
| Albertine Agnes of Nassau | Father: Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange | Paternal Grandfather: William the Silent | Paternal Great-grandfather: William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Juliana of Stolberg | |||
| Paternal Grandmother: Louise de Coligny | Paternal Great-grandfather: Gaspard de Coligny | ||
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Charlotte de Laval | |||
| Mother: Amalia of Solms-Braunfels | Maternal Grandfather: John Albert I, Count of Solms-Braunfels | Maternal Great-grandfather: Conrad, Count of Solms-Braunfels | |
| Maternal Great-grandmother: Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg | |||
| Maternal Grandmother: Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein | Maternal Great-grandfather: Louis I, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein | ||
| Maternal Great-grandmother: Elisabeth of Solms-Laubach |